TRIED TWICE FOR ALLEGEDLY KILLING HIS WIFE, FORMER HARD-CHARGING PROSECUTOR CURTIS LOVELACE SPEAKS OUT TO "48 HOURS" ABOUT THE CASE THAT MADE NATIONAL HEADLINES

"48 Hours" Investigates in "Death on Valentine's Day"

Saturday, August 11

Curtis Lovelace was a hard-charging prosecutor and former college football star who was known around his Quincy, Ill., hometown for having a wonderful life. He had a great job, four wonderful kids and a beautiful wife. But then he found his wife, Cory, dead in their home on Valentine's Day 2006. Nothing would ever be the same for Lovelace and the community that once held him up as a model citizen.

Maureen Maher and 48 HOURS investigate the death of Cory and interview Lovelace about the murder case against him in an encore of "Death on Valentine's Day" to be broadcast Saturday, August 11 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Lovelace told police he found his wife dead in their bed after dropping three of their kids off at school. But it was how he acted later that raised suspicions - he didn't immediately call 911 or start CPR.

"What I saw was someone who didn't need help," Lovelace tells Maher, "I just saw my wife who had passed away."

"The case was quickly closed," says local writer and author Bob Gough. "It was determined that they - there was no determination for a cause of death. And Curtis went on with his life."

Two days after her death, Cory's body was cremated. That didn't stop sinister rumors from circulating throughout the Quincy community about what happened that morning inside the Lovelace home.

"People wanted to know what happened to her," says Jenny Dreasler, a correspondent at KHQA-TV.

"We - we assumed that - that her eating disorder, that her alcoholism - somehow caused her death," Lovelace tells Maher. "And whether it was checked undetermined - or natural death really wasn't something we were concerned about."

Lovelace admits to Maher he, too, would describe "myself as an alcoholic."

Eight years after, though, Lovelace's life stopped again when a new detective with fresh eyes picked up the case file. He was struck by the way Cory's body was found in the couple's bed with her arms raised above her chest. The coroner's report estimated she could have been dead for up to 12 hours, which conflicted with what Curtis told police. The detective, Adam Gibson, uncovered what he believed was the cause of death: suffocation. By then, Lovelace had gone on to marry again, not once but twice. In 2014 Curtis was arrested and charged with murder. In 2016 he was tried, and the case ended with a hung jury.

Gibson tells Maher he's "100 percent certain" Lovelace murdered his wife.

"There's nobody guilty for this crime because no crime was committed," says Christine Lovelace, Curtis Lovelace's third wife.

He was tried again in 2017. But that trial would be different than the first. Lovelace's second wife, Erica Gomez, who claimed Lovelace was abusive, was banned from the first trial and allowed to testify in 2017. Prosecutors also maintained the way Cory's body was found proves she was dead longer than Lovelace claims and that she was suffocated. Lovelace's defense team argued her body simply gave out from struggles with bulimia and alcoholism.

"We were prepared - in our minds, in our heart for, for whatever the verdict was," Lovelace tells Maher.

"But still, knowing that 12 people and our fate and our future and our children's future were in their hands is scary," adds Christine Lovelace.

48 HOURS: "Death on Valentine's Day" is produced by Alec Sirken, Marc Goldbaum, Paul LaRosa, Chris Young Ritzen, James Stolz and Aimee deSimone. Stephen McCain and Anthony Venditti are the field producers. Jud Johnston, David Spungen, Diana Modica, Mike Mongulla, Grayce Arlotta-Berner and Marlon Disla are the editors. John Yacobian is the update producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Susan Zirinsky is the senior executive producer.

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